


Be My Guide

by CrispyCrispin



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Fluff, Girlguiding, idk man what are tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-30 02:32:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19032967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrispyCrispin/pseuds/CrispyCrispin
Summary: Katherine Howard is looking for new friends so she decides to give Girlguiding a try.





	Be My Guide

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a story about Katherine making friends her own age because she deserves it. I am hoping to write more to this as I have storylines and character arcs planned out. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas. Also, tell me if there are any grammatical errors.
> 
> "That's some good shit" - Hannah

The realisation hit Katherine when she was on her phone one day. She was looking at all the posts she was tagged in of friends seeing the show together. It filled her with joy that people loved it so much, loved her so much but there was something else not quite right. It was when she saw a selfie of two girls, around her age, looking like they were having the time of their lives that it clicked. Katherine was lonely.  
Sure, she had the queens who loved her and she loved them. If she needed something, they would be happy to help. But they weren’t the same as having friends her age. Friends she could go shopping with or chat and gossip with or just hang out. Sure, she does all those things with the queens but Kat knows they all see her as a child. It’s lovely, and Kat knows she needs it half the time, but they’ve been doing the show for a while so surely, she’s made some progress by now. And it’s not like the other queens don’t have other friends. Catherine has got to know people at her church, the Annes always seem to know someone when they go out in the evenings, heck, Kat’s pretty sure Cathy has at least 3 pen pals. It makes sense she’d want to talk to other people too.  
She decides to approach Jane about it.   
“Mum, I’ve been thinking… I think I want to make friends… like my own age? People to hang out and chat with and stuff. Not that I can’t do that with you and the other queens! I love the time we spend together” Kat rushes to add. “I really appreciate all you’ve done for me and I don’t know what I’d have done without you but… I just… wanna talk to someone my own age? The other queens have all made friends and stuff. I just… don’t know how.” Kat trails off, feeling silly about bringing it up.  
Jane is quick to respond, sensing that Kat is unsure. “Kat, I think that’s a wonderful idea. It makes sense that you’d want to make new friends, we aren’t exactly your age even if we try to be ‘down with the kids.’” Jane nudges Kat who rolls her eyes in response. “I love you, sweetheart. If you want to find something to do, meet new people then go for it. Perhaps you can join a club, start a new hobby? I’ll try and find something if you want?”  
“Thanks, mum, that’d be great.” Kat gives a smile of relief and heads back to her room  
Jane is pleasantly surprised by Kat’s suggestion. She’s changed so much from the quiet girl who suffered alone; it fills Jane with pride.  
Unfortunately, there weren’t any obvious answers. It wasn’t like Kat went to school and could meet people there or join any clubs, and she didn’t have much knowledge of modern hobbies for girls Kat’s age. She decided to do some research later and hopefully, something will come up. Luckily, Catherine had a suggestion when she heard what Jane was doing.  
“A club for Kat… I might be able to help with that actually. There’s this group who meet once a week at my church, I think they’re called guides? They have a bunch of crafts and photos of trips on a display in the hall. Do think that might work?” Catherine offered. “If it helps… I think it’s a girls-only club if you catch my drift?”  
“I see. Well, it’s certainly worth a shot, thanks Catherine. Guides, right? I’ll look into it.” Jane smiled and spent the next few minutes looking into what guides were exactly. Girlguiding, a community built around giving girls opportunities and adventures. It sounded perfect, except that guides were 10-14. A bit more searching revealed that girls 14-18 could be a ranger but that still wouldn’t work for Kat. The section on young leaders sounded more promising, though. It wouldn’t be quite the same, but maybe it was more appropriate. Kat could be a young leader for a guide group, giving her the chance to socialise with other leaders around her age, while also giving her some responsibility. She didn’t say it specifically but Jane felt Kat was trying to be more independent. This seemed perfect, and if Kat was nervous about going alone, Jane could always volunteer as a regular leader too. Just in case, if Kat let her. Deciding it was a good option, Jane suggested it to Kat.  
“What do you think? If it’s not right I’ll look for something else. You can stop at any time and…” Jane paused, not sure if she should continue. “If you don’t want to be alone, I could volunteer too but only if you want me to!” Jane watches Kat, trying to gauge her reaction.  
“I like that idea. It sounds like it could be fun. If… if you were there, it wouldn’t be a big deal, right? They wouldn’t mind, would they?”  
“Not at all, Kat. I’ll ask the leader when we can start, yeah?”  
And so, Jane emails the guide leader asking if they could join. Joan is all too happy to have more leaders, having recently lost a leader, and she is thrilled to have more help. She mentions a couple of other young leaders who were sure to welcome Kat. She invited them to come early next Thursday so the can meet the others and give it a go for the evening.  
Kat feels great about the evening right up until she’s getting ready to leave and starts overthinking what she’s wearing. What if the other girls think she looks silly? What if they make fun of her for bringing her mum? She tries to hide it but Jane notices as they drive to the church (Catherine gave them directions as Jane doesn’t trust those Satnav things).  
“You alright, love? Nervous?” She puts a gentle hand on Kat’s leg. “I’m sure everyone will be lovely but if you don’t like today, we don’t have to come back. I’ll be there the whole time if you need me.”  
“But what if… never mind.” Kat turns, staring out the passenger window.  
“What if what, love? You can tell me.”  
Kat answers in a quiet voice. “What if they think I’m dumb for bringing my mum with me?”  
“They’re not going to think that. If it will make you feel better, I’ll leave you to do your thing tonight, yeah? I’ll keep my distance, just there if you need me, just in case. I don’t have to come back next week if you’re happy on your own. But let’s give it a try together this week, yeah?”  
“Ok. Thanks, mum.” Katherine gives a little smile as they pull into the car park.  
Jane unbuckles her seatbelt and leans over, giving Kat a hug and a kiss on her forehead. “Let’s go make some friends.”  
As they make their way inside, Kat resisting the urge to hold Jane’s hand, they meet Joan, the leader they’d emailed. She smiles brightly as she shakes each of their hands, thanking them for their help. Joan then introduces them to Maggie, another young leader, before giving a brief explanation of the plan for the evening. The girls are in groups doing their Go For Its so each group has their own plan and should bring their own supplies, leaving the leaders to just move back and forth, helping out where they’re needed and checking in to make sure they’re all making progress. Joan also mentions a guide, Lily, who is special needs and thus they should avoid making physical contact or crowding her unless she initiates. Finished with the briefing, Maggie suggests she and Kat collect the supplies so she knows where they are.  
“So, what’s your deal? I mean… you don’t have to tell me anything. I just meant like… let me start again.” Maggie took a deep breath and put on a bright smile, “Hey, I’m Maggie and I’m 20. I volunteer here as a break from studying at uni. How about you?”  
Kat gave a small chuckle at her attempts. It made her feel a bit better about being nervous. “I’m Kat, 19, and I spend most of my time performing in a show.” She left out the fact that she was a reincarnation of a Tudor queen from 500 years. Probably not the most normal thing to tell people. “I’m here because I’m… lonely and wanted to make friends. I don’t go to school so, yeah.” She finished uncertainly.  
“Well, there are lots of people to make friends with here! Myself included- if you want me that is.”  
“Yeah! I’d… I’d like that.”  
“Awesome. Well here are the pens and such so let’s take them back before they think we’re hiding.”  
Meanwhile, Jane was taking the moment of privacy with Joan to warn her about Kat’s… situation. “I know how to calm her down and nothing should happen, but just watch out if someone gets too close or too aggressive. Also, don’t mention it to her? She’s a bit worried people are going to judge her for me being here but I just want her to relax and make friends.” Joan is very understanding and offers to make Jane a cup of tea.  
Kat and Maggie return with the pens, already getting along great, when guides start turning up. The first few girls all sit in groups chatting before the meeting starts. Eventually the other leaders, Maria and Holly, arrive. Maria has brought three guides with her, one of them being her own daughter. Holly turns up just as the meeting starts and immediately moves to sit with a couple of the guides, chatting quietly as Joan introduces Kat and Jane. She gives Kat a brief “Hey” before moving with her chosen group to get on with the evening.  
The rest of the evening goes well. To begin with, Kat follows Maggie until she reaches a group that are trying to come up with interpretative dance. She watches what they have so far and starts offering ideas to extend it. Without realising it, she spent the rest of the evening helping and getting to know the girls and even being incorporated in the dance herself. When Joan called everyone together, Kat was disappointed but looked forward to next week when the group was going to write some short songs about things they liked.  
Once they had packed up the few guide supplies and most of the guides were on their way home, Jane and Kat said goodbye and headed on their own way. Holly was staying on for rangers and seemed the most excited she had all evening, though she was currently smiling and frantically typing on her phone. Maggie had headed off a bit earlier to catch the bus back and Maria waited with her herd of children until the other girls are gone. In the car back, Kat had a big grin on her face.  
“Have fun love?”  
“Absolutely. I can’t wait until next week.”


End file.
